Have a tuneful Christmas with Kishani
View(s):Christmas came early to the Kingsbury, not with tinsel and baubles and trees, but with the heavenly music of the season as Kishani Jayasinghe launched her debut CD ‘Christmas with Kishani’ last Sunday.
Radiant in saree: Kishani addressing the audience and left, autographing the album
It was an intimate gathering at the Victorian Room, a veritable who’s who in the music world, Kishani’s family and friends and those who had supported her throughout her musical journey that has seen her go from the familiar environs of the Lionel Wendt stage as soloist at many a Merry-An Singers’ concert to the world stage- London’s Royal Albert Hall and Buckingham
Palace to sing for Royalty to name just a few of her achievements. A short slide show took the audience through the highlights of a career still on the ascendant. Yet, as Kishani explained, it was particularly meaningful for her to launch her debut CD at home among the people closest to her and those with whom she had a very personal connection.
She could have chosen operatic arias, which is what she has built her career on, or ventured into more popular choices, though she stopped to assure the audience, she could never be a pop singer, but in the end it was the music of Christmas that seemed the perfect choice. In the mix of old favourites and Christmas classics, were also two of her own compositions Christmas Memory and All I want for Christmas, which seemed to 
exemplify what Christmas at home has meant to her. It was her first foray into composition ( the CD has these two originals) and she played particular tribute to the amazing musicians who had been instrumental in helping her compile the album in just five weeks- Soundarie David, Neranjan de Silva, Sureka Amerasinghe, Shiraz Nooramith and Pradeep Rodrigo.
So as the lights dimmed, the audience sat back and let themselves be enveloped by the music, held captive by that compellingly beautiful voice and songs rendered with all the depth of feeling that Christmas evokes in our hearts. Music, she hoped, that would stay with people through the season.
A perhaps long overdue website www.kishani.com was also launched for Kishani fans to keep up-to date with her.
